[Sauron]

Originally Posted by alphamale

The idea that justices "mature" on the bench, i.e., become liberals, is a standard mantra of the liberal media (checkout http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080...books&v=glance ),

In point of fact your own book contradicts you:

Blackmun embraced equal protection for women and came to reject capital punishment. A Nixon appointee, Blackmun became the Supreme Court's most liberal justice after the retirement of William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall. The personality that emerges in Greenhouse's portrayal is that of a self-effacing and scholarly judge, devoid of partisanship, willing to follow his ideas wherever they led him.

but in fact the reasons republicans have ended up appointing liberals is

Simply incorrect.

The reason that Repugs have done this is because they knew that their far-right candidates didn't stand a prayer of being confirmed. So they appointed several centrist judges instead.

Their handwringing disappointment is their own fault, thought. The conservatives are so far to the right that the center looks like the left to them.